Beware: Children at Play (1989)

A mentally-disturbed teenager kidnaps and brainwashes children into cannibalistic psychopaths - but not when the adults intervene.

Director:

Mik Cribben

Writer:

Fred Scharkey (screenplay) (as Fred Sharkey)

Stars:

Michael Robertson, Rich Hamilton, Robin Lilly

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Robertson	...	John DeWolfe
Rich Hamilton	...	Sheriff Ross Carr
Robin Lilly	...	Cleo Carr
Lori Romero	...	Julia DeWolfe (as Lori Tirgrath)
Jamie Krause	...	Kara DeWolfe
Sunshine Barrett	...	Mary Rose Carr
Mark Diekman	...	Luke Domain
Mik Cribben	...	Farmer Isac Braun
Susan Chandler	...	Mrs. Mary Braun
Herb Klinger	...	Franklin Ludwig
Lauren Cloud	...	Dale Hawthorn
Lorna Courtney	...	Amy Carr / Wealtheow
Danny McClaughlin	...	Grendel / Glenn Randall
Stephanie Jaworski	...	Alice Allegari
Lee Kayman	...	Josiah Modicah

Storyline

After several children have gone missing, a writer and a cop decide to get to the bottom of the problem once and for all. As they find more and more leads they discover that their children are being brainwashed into zombified cannibal killers by a disturbed teen.

---

Plot Keywords:

parents killing children | human sacrifice | child murderess | children | blond boy | 

---

Taglines:

Gut wrenching terror!

---

Genres:

Horror | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and gore, and for some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Troma

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Goblins

Company Credits

Production Co:

Troma Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

---

Crazy Credits

Top-billed actor Michael Robertson is billed as 'Michael Robinson' in the opening credits.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Plutonium Baby (2013)

User Reviews

I Wish I Could Give It A Zero

Now, I understand this movie is made for fans of Trama Studio's work and is a cult classic. But this movie is horrible. Cult classic or not, there is no reason you should enjoy a movie made on a budget that's less than many people make in a year. The special effects are the worst ever, there are constant mess-ups and errors, the sound is atrocious, and the video quality is horrible, even for a movie that's over a decade and a half old. The plot is just...unbearable. For unexplained reasons an innocent kid kills his father in the very beginning and eats him. Now, this might be more understandable if the kid was in a satanic cult or they were on Indian Burial Grounds or some other nonsense Trama might use to explain the storyline better, but there isn't. There is no reason at all.

It's been mentioned that many people might take offense at this movie, I didn't. I think it's horrible for other reasons. But there is children being slaughtered, extreme violence and gore, murder, nudity, and even rape. There is no reason or explanation for much of this. This is in my opinion, the worst movie ever and I think the one that we are forced to give it is overly generous. Avoid this movie as well as Trama's other work as much as possible.